Saturday, October 30, 2010

Doesn't every boy love trucks and army guns that light up and make sounds? I know mine does. He loves anything that will entertain the wonderful imagination that he has. I love watching him pretend to be a superhero, a construction worker, a police officer, a fireman, and sometimes even a chef! It's so much fun to see where his imagination takes him . . . This is such a fun age - and Christmas time is going to be so exciting! One day last week Noah and I took our sweet time walking down the toy aisle. Of course I had my camera handy. Here he is! Standing next to some of his favorite things. It was no surprise to me that he gravitated towards all the things that lit up and made sounds!

Monday, October 25, 2010

It seems like our lives revolve around the baseball field. So does it surprise you that all last week and weekend was spent doing baseball stuff. Baseball practice, baseball games, more baseball practice, baseball sign-ups, and finishing off the weekend with a 3.5 hour baseball tournament scrimmage that lasted a full 9 innings. Does it sound like I'm complaining? If it does, I'm not. I don't mind at all but just thought I'd list how much of our lives goes into baseball.

Before I share some snapshots that I took over the weekend, I just wanted to say . . . I can't believe it's raining again. I am, so, seriously, over the RAIN! Yes I am craving cooler weather, and I love that it has cooled down - but the rain, well the rain can just STOP ALREADY!

Our Little League sign-up booth at a local elementary school's Fall Fest. Nicholas is standing to the far right. So.Very.Tall!

Noah was in "sweet treat" heaven that night!

At the Fall Fest in his costume. Our Race Car Driver!

At Sunday's tournament scrimmage. What a trooper! He did so well the entire day!

Friday, October 22, 2010

It has been wet and gloomy here all week long. Everytime you think it's gonna stop and dry up, it starts up again. I'm beginning to long for the sunshine, I'm beginning to get cabin fever.

Yesterday I felt so out of sorts. Had a lot to do and very little motivation. It must have been a reflection of the weather. Today it looks as if it might actually be a dry day. Who knows. We'll have to see. Crossing my fingers! And today I'm feeling more motivated to get stuff done!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

We had baseball practice lastnight. While the boys were practicing some of us moms got to talking about dinner and recipes. One of the moms mentioned this recipe to me and on our way home I mentioned it to Jay. Needless to say, we made a detour to the grocery store to pick up one of the ingridients I didn't have. It was so worth it. This cake is SO GOOD. And best of all, it's super easy and quick because it's cooked in the microwave . . . yup, that's right! The microwave!

1 Box Devils Food Cake mix
1 Container of chocolate frosting

Mix the cake mix as instructed on box. Peel the foil seal off the frosting container and melt in microwave for 30 seconds. Pour into a microwave rice cooker. Then pour the cake batter ontop the melted frosting. Cover the microwave rice bowl with its cover and microwave for 9 minutes. Turn cake over onto plate and serve with vanilla ice cream and ENJOY!

Friday, October 15, 2010

When I was a little girl I used to take old shoeboxes and decorate them. I can't remember what I used exactly, but I probably used colored markers and stickers and leftover things from my mom's craft stash. So I wasn't completely surprised at how much I fell in love with scrapbooking! I mean there were two years or so that I was in such a frenzy over the whole idea of scrapbooking! I became so indulged in the hobby that I was practically obsessed with each new monthly magazine that came out, wanted to learn every new technique that there was, and I became so overly, focused on the art of it all that I forgot about what the real purpose was. I lost sight of preserving the memories.

You must understand that scrapbooking is such a time-consuming hobby. And I will always love the hobby. But ultimately what's important to me is preserving memories for my boys; so one day they can look through their album and travel down memory lane through the photos I have taken, and hearing my voice through the journaling that I try to include on each scrapbook page.

But let's be honest here! I don't have time anymore to scrapbook the way I used to. And secretly I do wish to have the time for the hobby, because, let's face it, for me, there's nothing like the smell of scrapbook paper and freshly printed photos that get me all giddy! Silly I know, but once again, I do enjoy the art of scrapbooking, the creative outlet it provides for me.

My life is constatly moving. I'm always driving one of the boys somewhere! Don't get me wrong, I love this part of motherhood. It sounds strange, but I've always wanted to be the soccer mom. Accept in my life I'm a baseball mom! I even have the sticker on my van to make it official. But, one day, when my boys are all grown up I want them to know this, I want them to know how much I love being their mom. How much I enjoy sitting and watching practices, rooting for them at their games, how much I enjoy watching them at storytime or their first sport activity. Of course the moments in their childhood aren't always shining, I mean there are attitudes and breakdowns, and punishments, and disappointments. I want them to know those too; for it is a part of their story. The thought of wanting to document it all just overwhelms me; because it's just not realistic to get it all down.

Recently I came across this blog post that got me thinking in a different way. Maybe I need to approach scrapbooking in a more modern way. As much as I love the paper and prints of the whole art of scrapbooking I ultimately want to get my boys' pictures in their album. I want to journal about the things that they are experiencing right now, before I fail to remember the details of it all. I have decided to begin a new way of preserving their memories. It's not the most creative approach, but it definitely is the most practical way to preserve their memories without taking me away from being their baseball mom, so to speak!

It is super easy to do and the only thing that I will need to get past is my perfectionist nature. I need to just remember that every little detail isn't going to matter a whole, heck, of alot when they are traveling down memory lane . . .

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Right now I'm reading The Mighty Queens of Freeville. It's written by Amy Dickinson, the author of the adivice column "Ask Amy" formly known as "Ask Ann" as in Ann Landers. We all know Ann Landers right?

Well Amy Dickenson's book, The Mighty Queens of Freeville, is her story; her own personal story of prevailing over the unfortuante happenings in her life.

I'm enjoying her story; as I believe that every one of us has a story to tell! Her book is filled with such insight and I have found myself, more than once, folding pages of the book where she has shared insightful tidbits along her journey.

Today I thought I'd share some of that here . . .

Prevailing is underrated. People have the idea that unless they win, they lose. But sometimes surviving is enough.

Parents describe the world to their growing children. We are the ones who show and tell them what life is like.

Parenting is not a process of control but of surrender.

It's a good book, it really is! If you're interested in learning more about Amy Dickenson and her book The Mighty Queens of Freeville go here.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Today my morning started out good. I woke up early, before the boys, to have a cup of coffee and relish in some quiet time. This is normally how I begin my day. I logged on to Facebook and started to sip on my coffee . . . Hmmm. I came across a video of Nicholas & Noah that was posted by my cousin. It made me smile, it actually made me laugh out loud. And I thought to myself . . . today is going to be a good day.

Fast forward to getting Noah ready for his Jr. Sports Program. Talk about some attitude issues. There was a whole lot of whining and crying and pleading. It wasn’t about going, it was about what he was wearing. Yes, you read it correctly. It was about what he was wearing. I simply didn’t have time for his antics and I certainly didn’t want his attitude influence my happy mood. So I just said to him, “Listen Noah go to your room until you’re done with your meltdown. You’re wearing those pants whether you like it or not. It’s cold and it’s raining. If you continue to act like you are you can change out of those pants and we just won’t go.” Done. I was done. It simply wasn’t up for discussion. So that was his choice.

We made it to his sports program. And all was well. It was a good time. He had so much fun and I had so much fun watching and rooting him on. It was all good.

On our way home I got to thinking, thinking about Noah’s happy energy that came from his sporting activity. He so easily forgot about what he was wearing, what had caused him to have a not-so-good moment. I thought to myself, “There are so many good moments throughout my day. So many more than the not-so-good.” I’m talking about the small every day moments that are a part of my day. The moments that get overlooked. I decided that I was going to focus on the good stuff, the everyday good stuff.

A break in the clouds. Enough to stop the constant drizzle during Noah's practice.

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This toy. It's been put up for awhile. Having it out again made it seem like a new toy. It gave me 10 minutes to spare; to clean up the breakfast mess we made and make some brunch for Noah. A good 10 minutes indeed!

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Feeding Noah is fun. He's not a picky eater. One of his favorites is round eggs, aka boiled eggs. He eats it like his mama, with salt & pepper. I love that he likes turkey bacon too.

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This moment in the day melted my heart. While he was eating I said to him, "When you're done eating you'll have to wash your hands and meet me up in your room for a quick story before nap. Mama has to sweep up the floor." While I was taking his plate to the sink I turned around to find him doing this. What a sweet, sweet boy!

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Marinated grilled chicken. I love that I planned my meals ahead of time, making it less stressful for me to get dinner on the table.

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Nicholas reading to Noah. Don't be fooled though; he wasn't animated while reading and I had to tell him not to read to fast or skip any pages. But the point here is, he sat with his brother and read to him. It was probably my favorite "good moment" of the day.

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Homemade cookies made by yours truly :0) These always make my boys happy. And I love making them happy!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Today it finally felt like the beginning of fall. We had rain and gloom; so we kept errands to a minimum. Afterschool we went to Kohls to pick up a few pairs of jeans for Nicholas. But that's not before I spent 20 minutes trying to satisfy Noah with how his pants would or should fit over his rain boots. Who knew that a 3 year old could have such an opinion about such things. I mean seriously I was ready to fling those dang boots across the garage. I was completely and utterly frustrated. Noah kept saying, "Not like that. The tag is bothering me. Firemens don't wear them boots like that. It's bothering me. NO! Fix it like my udder weg. I like my udder weg." And this went on for 20 minutes and I must add, Noah whined through this whole ordeal and even tried to throw a tantrum on the ground. But I stopped that with my "You better not look!"

And we finally made it to Kohls. Noah practically skipped right into the store with the most amazing smile on his face, satisfied with the way his pants fell upon his rain boots. Gees . . .

That was our Monday. Nothing much. Just the stuff of everyday . . .you know, the good stuff. The stuff I just love!

Friday, October 1, 2010

It's October 1st! It hardly feels that way; we have been experiencing some pretty warm weather these last couple of days. The days have been so. very. hot. but the nights have been amazing. The evenings feel like sweet summer evenings. It's nice, but it hardly matches the fall decor going on in my house.

This morning I started on my lists. My to-do list for the month of October, and my Christmas buying & idea list! It seems a bit early for a Christmas lists but every year I try and be ahead of the game. Somehow, though I am still out & about the week of Christmas trying to buy last minute gifts. This year I really want to avoid that. So I am starting early on my lists!

Although it's the beginning of the month, it is still the end of the week. So I'd like to share a few cool sites I have come across.

Still Tasty found this site in a magazine I checked out from the library. I am always worried about how long to keep food in the refridgerator, or how long food is good for. Some things I learned from this site: milk will last up to 5 days past the date on carton so long as it's refridgerated properly. Another good one, eggs stored on the shelves (not the shelves on the door ) in your refridgerator are good for 3 to 4 weeks.

I am very blessed; I'm married to an amazing man and together we have two happy, healthy, and energetic boys! They are our life's treasure! I love to write and document the profound and the mundane that take place in my life. I also love to take pictures and share them with family & friends.